Vol. 18, No. 6 
Page 2 
This area, located in Pope County, was cut in the summer of 1974 after being 
livetrapped in March 1974. The area was livetrapped again in March 1975 and 
will be trapped once more in March 1976. 
A total of 411 trees were marked for sale, 392 of which were capable of 
producing food for squirrels. The sale area is narrow (100-200 meters wide) 
and is located on a steep, rock-covered, north-facing hillside bordering Lusk 
Creek. 
As on the Massac area (see MWRL 18(4, 5):l), the timber cutting at Old 
Barn does not appear to have affected the density of the squirrel population. 
The estimated density was virtually the same before and after the cut ( 1.9 
squirrels per acre). 
Both before and after the cutting, many of the livetrapped squirrels came 
from what is now the uncut perimeter of the sale. Thus, foraging activity must 
have remained about the same in the sale area after the timber cutting. In 
fact, we captured 16 more squirrels in the postcut trapping (43) than we did 
during the precut trapping (27). Comparisons of survival rates during the 
cutting years (1974-75) with the postcut year (1975-76) must await the results 
of next year's trapping. 
Responses of Prairie Chickens to Habitat Manipulation R. L. Westemeier, 
D. R. Vance 
Interaction between native and introduced species is a well-known phenomenon. 
However, interrelationships among such species as prairie chickens and pheasants 
have not been well documented. We are in a unique position to document inter¬ 
actions between these two species on the Bogota Study Area. 
As reported in MWRL 14(3):3, during the years 1 963 through 1 968 , only an 
occasional pheasant was seen or heard crowing at Bogota during our booming ground 
surveys for prairie chickens. Four pheasant cocks were noted crowing on 
sanctuaries in 1969, followed by a steady increase to 14 cocks in 1974. By the 
spring of 1975, at least 18 cocks were noted on sanctuaries and at least 4 cocks 
crowed routinely on private land. Pheasants gained occupancy on every sanctuary 
at Bogota by 1975—despite our efforts to control pheasants on sanctuaries by 
shooting them at every safe, legal, and discreet opportunity. Collected specimens 
are used for mineral profile analyses at the Survey. 
The close association of pheasants and prairie chickens has resulted in 
the following observations: (1) aggressive harassment of prairie chicken cocks 
on booming grounds; (2) pheasant cocks courting prairie chicken hens; (3) 
competition for space on sanctuaries for crowing territories, nest territories, 
and brooding areas; and (4) nest parasitism. The full import of these obser¬ 
vations is difficult to ascertain. Other aspects have not been observed, such 
as the behavior of a pheasant in the presence of a brood of prairie chickens. 
